Como, Italy…Boatloads of illegal immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa and Arab North Africa land in Italy’s southern provinces, and then proceed northwards to the wealthier regions Lazio (Rome), Tuscany (Florence), Veneto (Venice), Piedmont (Turin) and Lombardy (Milan and Como).

These illegal immigrants can be seen in all the tourist spots throughout Italy and even in smaller towns such as Como, near the Swiss border. Their presence, while annoying to tourists and natives, is becoming increasingly menacing with their involvement in a new wave of crimes previously unseen in Italy.

The annoyance lies in the audacity with which these Third World infiltrators push their wares in people’s faces, often in a provocative way. The police look on passively, no doubt instructed not to interfere.

Inquiring into this untenable situation (immigrants constitute now 6.2% of Italy’s 58 million population), which may eventually prove to be detrimental to tourism and national identity, native Italians shrug their shoulders in a gesture of resignation. When prodded, most express their frustration by saying, “Our government promises a lot with words but does nothing in actuality.”

Italians, known for their love of life and tolerance towards others are getting fed up, albeit not totally focused on action. The October 30th, 2007, murder of an Italian woman by a Romanian immigrant brought the issue of immigrants’ threat to public security into sharper focus. Former center-right Prime Minister and opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi called on the Prodi government expel the Romanian immigrants (a large number of them are Gypsies/Roma people). Rome’s center-left Mayor Walter Veltroni was in a panic, demanding the central government act immediately.

On November 6th, 2007, the Prodi government came up with a decree, giving officers of the Interior Ministry the power to expel immigrant-citizens of EU countries. The decree does not however relate to the illegal immigrants that in proportion to their numbers commit far more crimes. It remains to be seen whether the new decree will be enforced?

In scores of impromptu interviews with local citizens during a recent visit to Italy, it wasapparent that political-correctness and fear of being labeled “racist” have muted citizen’s complaints. Italians and other Europeans have remained relatively silent in the face of the ever-rising number of illegal immigrants (many of them Muslims from North Africa and Albania) who are in breach of Italian law (and that of other European Union member states as well). The only logical explanation for their inaction and seeming resignation to the marked changes taking place around them may just be a sense of guilt.

Most Italians and other European Union member states are beginning to recognize that their state’s fundamental character is threatened by the apparently unstoppable influx of uneducated and unskilled immigrants-legal and illegal. Compassion towards these illegal immigrants is commendable; after all, they simply seek to better their lives and that of their families. But then, one must consider the implication for countries such as Italy (and for that matter the other EU states) if the flow of illegal immigrants continues.

There is no telling how many of Africa’s 680 million might turn up in Europe, overwhelming the continent economically, politically, and culturally. Millions of Pakistanis (population 165 million) and Bangladeshis (150 million) live in abject poverty and would gladly leave their countries as well for either to Europe or the U.S. if the opportunity presented itself (including those from an ever growing list of other poor countries bursting with humanity).

Millions of Egyptian, Yemeni, Syrians, and Iraqi Arabs, would like to leave their poor and repressive authoritarian states and come to Europe, some for reasons that go beyond economics – they seek to extend the domain of Islam. In Britain, Germany, Holland, and France Islam has already been fully accommodated - out of both guilt and intimidation, and in Italy, Islam will soon enjoy equality with (Catholic) Christianity.

White-European guilt and political-correctness is accommodating and appeasing the illegal immigrants and their home countries in spite of the prominent role the illegal immigrants play in criminal activities. In Venice, the world famous Palazzo Ducale (Doges Palace) is showing an exhibit on “Venice and Islam.” Bookstores throughout Italy and even in small towns like Como are replete with books about Islam.

The bookstores visited in Italy have an abundance of books about the Holocaust, but none about modern Israel- the Jewish State that rose from the ashes of the Holocaust. And while there are tour books on Egypt, Libya, Morocco and Syria, there are none to be found about Israel. At one particular store in Como, the store clerk stridently responded to the question of why there were no tour books on Israel by saying “Israel is not a tourist destination!”

Europe, during the past sixty years has attempted to atone for the sins of the Holocaust and two thousand years of persecution and anti-Semitism by paying reverence to its dead Jews. It is the living Jews, however, in its midst that the Europeans ignore, leaving them, at times, to the mercy of Muslim youth mobs who perpetrate hate crimes against those visible Jews, wearing a skullcap, or sporting a long beard. Throughout Europe and in Italy as well, few Jews dare exhibit their religious identity for fear of a violence attack. Religious Jews wear baseball caps instead of skullcaps.

In an attempt to assuage its guilt Europe is appeasing Arab illegal immigrants and their repressive governments. In spite of widespread European investment in the infrastructure of Arab and African countries and serious attempts to create jobs there, these governments continue to eagerly send masses of their people to Europe.

It is however the Jews and not the Muslims, to whom the European should be expressing their guilt and remorse. European colonialism, no doubt, was exploitive (in Italy’s case it was Libya and Ethiopia) but the Ottoman’s Muslim colonial rule over the Christian population of the Balkans was just as exploitive without the attached guilt. On the other hand, Europeans committed the Holocaust, the greatest crime in history, on European soil, against native European Jews. Europe persecuted and exploited the Jews for more than a millennium - the same Jews that gave Europe its genius and culture. Europe placed Jews, not Arabs or Africans in ghettos, and it is the same old Europe that perpetrated pogroms on law-abiding Jews.

The anti-Semitism of the past is gone - at least on the surface - but when visiting Jewish quarters and synagogues throughout Italy one can’t help but notice the preponderance of police protection. While Jews in today’s Europe are full citizens with protection of the law, oftentimes the crimes against them are ignored by the press and diminished by public officials. And while individual Jews feel well treated by their Italian compatriots, the collective Jew - Israel, is vilified in the European media, albeit, less so in Italy.

Israel’s role as a frontline in the war against radical Islam is of little interest to post-Christian Europe. Europe has sacrificed its soul, and all that remains of its national and religious pride on the altar of greed and profit, and in the pursuit of hedonism. Italians readily admit this.

While European Jews have historically resorted to reason when arguing their case, Muslims have preferred violence and intimidation. Europe’s post-war commitment to non-violence has become an absurdity in light of Muslim (immigrant) intimidation and the European response in condemning Israel’s acts of self-defense.

Europe’s misplaced guilt is exacting a high price, which Italians and other European natives are already paying. Europe is too precious to lose, and one can only hope that the people of Europe will find their voice and elect governments that will save the continent.

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